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HYGIENIC SYSTEM. 




BY 



E. T. R0BIX80N, M. D., 

A GRADUATE OF THE NEW YORK HYGEIO THERAPEUTIC 
COLLEGE, 



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POMFRET, CT. 

PUBLISHED BY E. T- ROBINSON 

1870. 




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THE HYGIENIC SYSTEM. ADVERTISEMENTS, 



FLOEENOE HEIGHTS, NEW JERSEY. 



This model Health Institution is beautifully situated on the 
east bank of the Delaware River, between Trenton and Phila- 
delphia. The raoms are large and pleasant, and the house is 
abundantly supplied with pure, soft water from living 
SPRINGS. For circulars, &c., address 

R. T. TRALL, M. D. 



HYGEIO-THERAPEUTIC COLLEGE. 



The lecture t^'ms commence the middle of November and 
continue twenty /jveeks. Ladies and gentlemen admitted on 
precisely equal terms. All branches of a medical education are 
thoroughly taught. For further information, address 

* R. T. TRALL, M. D., 

Florence Heights, N. J. 



DEPOT OF 

HYGIENIC LITERATURE. 



Dr. Robinson keeps on hand, and can supply at short notice, 
works on Hygiene and kindred subjects. Any information will- 
ingly given. Call and examine. Residence, 

POMFRET, CT. 



^ „/ THE 

HYGIENIC SYSTEM 

OR 



THE PEINOIPLES OF HYGIENIC MEDIOATIOIT 
BEIEPLY EXPLAINED. 



A WORK FOR INQUIRERS, 



BY E. T. ROBINSON, M. D., 

A GRADUATE OF THE NEW YORK HYGEIO-THERAPEUTIC 
COLLEGE. 



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PO MFRET, 


CT. 


UBLISHED 


BY E. T. 


ROBINSON 



1870. 






Entered, according to act of Congress, in the year 1870, 

BY E. T. ROBINSON, 
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, 



SNOW BROS., PRS., WOKCJSSTKK, MASS. 



JP^TfPPPPTJPF' 



It is not the design of this little book to discuss 
th^ details of the Hygienic System, but simply to 
give a brief explanation of some of its leading 
principles, and put them in a cheap form, so as to be 
within the reach of all. To those who wish to pur- 
sue the inquiry further, the author would recom- 
mend Dr. Trail's ''Hydropathic Encyclopedia," also, 
Dr. Jaclison s ''How to Treat the Sick without Med- 
icine." There are also several good journals pub- 
lished, of which "The Health Reformer," and "The 
Laws of Life," are the best. 

The author knows that there are large numbers 
of sick persons in all parts of the world, suffering 
from disease without hope of relief, who, if they 
could be made acquainted with this system, would 
seek relief and find it, without doubt. For such, 
this work is especially designed. The author would 
also invite the attention of Philanthropists and 
Christians to a system which discards alcohol as 
a remedial agent, and all other things which tend to 
arouse human passions and excite the propensities 
arise, to the doctrine here taught, in the minds of 
of man. He is aware that many objections will 
those who have not investigated this subject ; but 
the reader is assured that the objections can all be 
answered, the only regret is that the limits of this 



iv INTRODUCTION. 

tract will not permit the discussion. There is much 
that goes in the world by the name of Hygiene, 
hut the true system is the result of experience in 
the application of Hygienic agencies to the treat- 
ment of the sick, as well as to the maintainence of 
health in those who are well. 

The author acknowledges his obligations to Prof. 
Trail, to whom the world is indebted for the solu- 
tion of many problems pertaining to the Healing 
Art. He would also thank the Professors of the 
H. T. College, to whom he is indebted for much 
valuable information. 



The paragraphs in italics are in the language of Prof. R. T. 
Trail, and were taken from The Catalogue of the Hygeio- Ther- 
apeutic College. 



The Hygienic Syste^vl. 



1. ''All healing power is inherent in the living 
Sy stein," 

That the human bod}^ has the power to re- 
cover, under favorable circumstances, from 
most of the injuries that may be inflicted upon 
it, no observing person will pretend to deny. 
For instance : if a person cuts his flesh or 
breaks a bone, place the part under favorable 
conditions and the healing power of nature 
which resides in the part injured will restore it 
again, in a short time, to its former state of 
health. Again, if a person takes cold or in- 
jures himself by over-work, a little care, or 
rest for a time, will allow nature to recuperate 
and restore the body to health. So of other 
diseases and injuries to which a person may be 
exposed. Only give nature a fair chance and 
she will alwa}' s prove herself able to right the 
wrongs that may be inflicted upon her. 

The existence of such a healing power in 



(6 THE HYGIENIC SYSTEM. 

the human body has been recognized by medi- 
cal men in all ages of the world. Some of 
the ablest minds of the profession have fre- 
quently acknowledged and proclaimed this fact. 
That this power exists in the living system 
alone, and nowhere else, I shall endeavor to 
prove. 

2. ''''There is no curative 'virtue* in medicines^ 

nor in anything outside the vital organism,'^' 

This proposition is contrary to the almost 
universal belief of mankind. It is neverthe- 
less true, and proven by the following facts : 
In the first place the world is full of invalids 
or persons who are partially crippled in some 
one or more of their powers. Indeed it is a 
rare thing to find a person who is perfectly 
sound in health of body or vigor of mind, and 
so accustomed have people become to sickness 
and disease that no one considers himself sick 
unless he is confined to his bed. Those who 
are able to keep about and attend to business 
are considered perfectly healthy, yet there are 
very few who have not some chronic disease. 
Yet the world is full of ''medicine," and there 
are at least 50,000 physicians in the United 
States alone. It is not necessary to consult 
the newspapers to learn the number of patent 
medicines in vogue, each of which is warranted 
to cure ( ?) certain diseases. Millions of dollars 
are annually expended in advertising these nos- 
trums, and princely fortunes are amassed in 



THE HYGIENIC SYSTEM. J 

the traffic ; yet few persons claim to have been 
cured by them. 

It is true that many persons who have acute 
diseases, (those of short continuance) recover. 
They take medicine and the recovery is attribu- 
ted to that. Nature does the work and the 
medicine gets the credit. They would get well 
under almost any circumstances ; yet thousands < 
annually die of diseases that are not intrinsic- 
ally dangerous. They die in consequence of 
wrong treatment, and many wonderful cures 
are fortunate escapes. Thousands recover 
from acute diseases and have terrible forms 
of chronic diseases, (those of long continu- 
ance) in consequence. These are are the re- 
sults of the drugs that have been administered. 
Such results are never known in Hygienic 
Practice. 

Our proposition is further proven by the fact 
that the older physicians grow the less faith 
they have in the power of meilicine, and the 
more ^in nature to cure disease. And thosa 
who give the least medicine and attend more 
to the Hygienic condition of their patients, are 
the most successful in their practice. 

Again, the practice of Hygienic Physicians, 
who do not use medicine at all, but rely wholly 
upon Hygienic agencies, bears still stronger 
evidence. They rarely lose a case of acute 
disease, and succeed in curing 90 per cent, of 
the chronic cases that come to them. All 
may be benefitted or made more comfortable. 



8 THE HYGIENIC SYSTEM. 

The popular belief in the curative powers of 
medicine amounts to a superstition. It is un- 
worthy of the enlightenment of the nineteenth 
century. It is a relic of the dark ages, when 
charms and incantations were the means re- 
sorted to, to cure the sick. 

3. 'Nature has not provided remedies for diseases/ 
Although this statement is absolutely true^ 

it needs a little explanation on account of the 
popular belief to the contrary. Every phe- 
nomenon in nature has a cause ; this is true of 
disease. Disease is the effect of a cause, is in 
short the penalty of the violation of nature's 
laws. Nature has provided penalties then for 
the violation of her laws ; how then can it be 
supposed that she has provided remedies to do 
away with the penalties ? Such a supposition 
would be absurd. Suppose our legislature 
should establish a penalty for theft, and then 
say if the culprit will only take a bottle of 
^'Plantation Bitters" the penalty will be re- 
moved ? ''No !" they say "serve out your time 
and then return to obedience." So says na- 
ture : "Obey my laws and live ;" "Return to 
obedience and I will forgive." The healing 
power being already in the living system, why 
should we look further? 

4. ''There is no "law of cure^^ in the universe; 
and the only condition of cure is, obedience ta 
physiological law J' 

By "law of cure" is meant the "contraria 



THE HYGIENIC SYSTEM. 5 

contrarius cur ant ur^'" (unlike cures unlike) of 
the allopathists, and the ^'similia similihus cur- 
antur^'^ (like cures like) of the homoeopathists. 
The absurd supposition that one disease can 
cure another ! What becomes of the patient 
meantime ? The truth of this proposition fol- 
lows from what we have already said, that 
cures depend upon the condition of obedience.^ 

5. ^''Remedial ag'ents do not act upon the living 
system^ as is tau^^ht in medical hooks and 
schools, but are acted on by the vital powers,'* 

This follows from a law of nature which is 
universal, to-wit : The relation of living and 
dead matter — ''living matter is active and dead 
matter passive'^ — when they come in contact 
with each other. By living matter is meant 
anything that has life, and dead matter any- 
thing that has not life. When a poisonous 
substance is taken into the system, the vital 
powers set to work to resist it and to expel it. 
Every organ it comes in contact with sets up a 
defensive struggle. This is vital resistance ; it 
is disease. The same thing happens when ob- 
structions occur in the body by matter retained 
which should be expelled. If food be taken it 
is transformed into the tissues of the body. 
This is physiological action ; it is health. 



♦Note — Disease being a "remedial effort," is often successful 
under unfavorable circumstances, hence the patient gets well; 
but "remedial efforts" are not always successful, hence the need 
of a physician to assist nature by supplying favorable conditions. 



10 THE HYGIENIC SYSTEM. 

6. '^ Disease is not^ as is supposed^ an enemy 
at war with the vital powers, but a remedial 
^#^^'^ ^ lyTocess of ipurification and reparor 
Hon. It is not a thing to be destroyed^ sub- 
dued or suppressed^ but an action to be 
regulated and directed.^* 

Disease then is an action on the part of the 
living system — a ''Remedial Effort ;" not in- 
deed an effort to remedy another disease, but 
to remove obstructions and repair damages. 
This follows from what we hav^ said under 1 
and 5. This may be illustrated by cholera, in 
which the vomiting and purging, &c., are ef- 
forts on the part of the system to rid itself of 
impurities. 

7. ''True remedial agents are materials and 
inHuences which have normal relations to 
the vital organs^ and not drugs or poi- 
sonSy whose relations are abnormal and 
anti-vital.'' 

By ''normal" agents is meant those that 
were intended by nature to be used, and by 
''abnormal" is meant those that are unnatural 
and consequently injurious. It is true that 
medicines will often alleviate pain^ and so far 
they may be useful when people do not know 
any better way. But pain is not disease ; it 
is only the voice of nature crying out for help. 
It is one thing to silence the out-cries of nature 
for assistance, but quite another to remove the 
cause which occasions all the trouble. 



THE HYGIENIC SYSTEM. 11 

8, ^^Nature's Materia Medica^ {medical ma- 
terial) consists of air^ lights heat^ electricity^ 
magnetism^ exercise^ rest^ food^ drink^ bath- 
ing^ sleep ^ clothing^ passional influences^ 
and mechanical or surgical appliances" 

People get sick by the misuse of these 
things as well as by the use of things abnor- 
mal or unnatural. In all their relations 'of 
life they disobey the laws of health, chiefly 
through ignorance. They make bad selections 
of food ; they eat many things that are not 
food, and that which is good they spoil by a 
vitiated system of cookery and their appetites 
have become perverted and unnatural. Many 
breathe impure air, over-work and neglect 
cleanliness ; thus they become sick, and then 
to make a bad matter worse they rush for a 
medicine bottle, and thus chronic diseases are 
fastened upon them. People thus debilitated 
are unable to endure the vicissitudes of weath- 
er and climate as well as the changes of season 
to which it falls to the lot of most people to 
be exposed, and they become an easy prey to 
the arch-destroyer, death. 

9. ''The True Healing Art^ coiisists in supply- 
ing the living system with ivhatever of the 
above raaterials it can use under the circum- 
stances^ and not in the adm^instration of 
poisons which it must Resist and Expel, 

In the Hygienic agencies mentioned we have 
ample resources for the treatment of every dis- 



12 THE HYGIENIC SYSTEM. 

ease "that flesh is heir to." By adapting them 
to the condition of the patient we can cure 
every curable person, and render all more com- 
fortable. With the simple agent water, with 
the assistance of certain instruments and ap- 
pliances, we can remove all obstructions, and 
that too without any injur3^ to the patient. In 
the treatment of inflammations and conges- 
tions there is no more eflicient agent than 
WATER, and in skillful hands there never need 
be any injury from its use. 

One great advantage in our treatment con- 
sists in taking away the bad things and sup- 
plying those that are good. We assist nature 
in the truest sense of the word. Drugs, on 
the contrary, only hinder nature's efforts ; they 
suppress the action constituting disease, but 
do not cure the patient ; that is always the 
work of nature, if it is done at all. 

10. '''Drugs are themselves causes of disease. If 

they remove one disease it is only by produce- 

ing a drug disease. Every dose diminishes 

the vitality of the patients 

This statement is proven by the fact, that if 

a course of ''medicine," which would be given 

by an allopathic physician in the treatment of 

any disease, were given to a well person it 

would make him sick. This is shown in the 

homoeopathic ''provings." The Homoeopa- 

thists take a well person and give him a drug 

in anallopathic dose, and note its effect ; this 



THE HYGIENIC SYSTEM. 13 

shows its nature. This is then dihited or at- 
tenuated and given in minute quantities on the 
principle of ''similia, i&c." '^Every dose di- 
minishes the vitality of the patient," because 
it requires an exertion of life power to expel 
it. The vitality is the sum total of a person's 
life force, and as every one has a certain fund 
OF LIFE FORCE wMch canuot be increased, every 
particle expended uselessly is so much wasted. 
''Vitality once lost can never be regained.'* 
The injury done by "medicine" is proportional 
to the quantity taken. 

11. ^^Drugopathy endeavors to restore health by 
administering the poisons which produce dis- 
easeJ' 

This is done under an erroneous idea of the 
nature of disease and of the relation of reme- 
dies to the living system. 

12. "Hygeio- Therapy (Hygienic Medication)^ 
erroneously called *'- Hydropathy'' or " Water 
Cure^'' on the contrary, restores the sick to 
health by the means which preserves health in 
•well persons J' 

It removes the cause of disease and supplies 
nature with the means for recovery. 

13. "Diseases are caused by obstructions^ the 
obstructing materials being poisons or impuri- 
ties of some kind." 

The truth of this follows from what has al- 
readv been said. 



14 THE HYGIENIC SYSTEM. 

14. "7%e Hygienic System removes these oh- 
structions and leaves the body sound'' 

This is the true way to treat disease. 

15. ''Drug medicines add to the causes of ob- 
structions and change acute into chronic 
diseases," 

Chronic diseases are characterized by defi- 
cient vitality. When drugs "cure" (?) dis- 
ease, it is by exciting nature to increased ef- 
fort, and thereby exhausting the vitality of the 
patient and consequently leaving him with de- 
bilitated organs. Hygienic Medication cures 
disease without the unnecessar}^ exhaustion of 
the patient's vitality. When a patient recov- 
ers from a disease under drug treatment he 
usually is a long time convalescing. When a 
person recovers under Hj^gienic treatment he 
goes about his business as well as ever. 

16. "To attemjyt to cure disease by adding to the 
causes of disease^ is irrational and absurd,'' 
Does it not strike you so, Reader ? If peo- 
ple were not ignorant of the real nature of med- 
icine they would discard the whole drug S3^stem 
at once. 

The Hygienic System not onl}^ teaches how 
to cure disease, but also how to avoid being 
sick, and it does more than that, for its univer- 
sal adoption would tend to do away with vice 
and crime, and thereby add to the sum total of 
human happiness. 



THE HYGIENIC SYSTEM. IS" 

17. '^Hygienic Medication is not a one-ideaism 
which professes to cure all diseases^ with 
''water alone;" nor is it a ''Cold Water 
Cnre^'^ as is erroneously believed by many. It 
adopts all the remedial a.ppliances in existence y 
with the single exception o/ poisons." 

The Hygienic System is not an impracti- 
cable theory which seems very fine to read 
about ; but it is a system which is the product of 
many minds, founded in sound philosophy, and 
sustained by the experience of thousands of 
persons, and has been tested for more than a 
quarter of a century. Its philosophy of living 
has been adopted by more than 100,000 persons 
and it is gaining in popularity every day. 



THE END. 



THE HVGIENIC SYSTEM. ADVERTISEMENTS. 

PHYSICIAN & SURGEON. 

Hygienic "Practitioner and Lecturer, 

Calls from a distance responded to; correspondence by letter 
carefully and confidentially attended to. Residence, 

POMFRET, CONN. 
NEW ENG-LAND 

NAUGATUCK, CONN. 

J. A. TENNEY, M. D., \ Physiunns 



.bJ 



MARTHA WILLIAMS, M.D., f rropri.tors. 

Scenery wild and romamic, pure soft water in abundance, and 
all the conditions of health successfully applied by experienced 
physicians. Patients will be received into a Christian home and 
loving hearts, where nothing can hinder their speedy restoration 
to health. Send stamp for circular. 



ITT PREPARATION. 



COOK-BOOK: 

OR 

THE ONLY WAY TO PREPARE FOOD IN A SIMPLE 
AND WHOLESOME MANNER. 

BY MRS. E. T. ROBINSON. 

For particulars address 

^. y. j^OBiNSON, M. p., Publisher, 
POMFRET, CONN. 



Pennsylvania Horticultural School 



AND 



NORMAL HEALTH INSTITUTE. 

The Annual Eecord and Catalogue of the above 

Institution, being a Year-Book of Horticultural 

Improvement, Health Eeform, and Progress. 

ContainiDg valuable information for all classes. 
Edited by B. L. Ryder, M. D. This original work 
will be issued January 1st, 1871, and should be 
read by every Hygienist and Reformer. Single 
copies, by mail, 25 cents ; liberal discount at whole- 
sale. Enclose a three cent stamp for prospectus, 

Addrtss 

B. L. RYDER, M. D., 

London t Franklin Co,, I*a. 



RELIEF AND CURE OF HERNIA. 

T>R. Robinson keeps and applies the latest and 
best invention in the form of a Truss. Trusses 
have hitherto been a failure, but we think that w^e 
have something now that is jibsolutely perfect. 
Something that will not lust or break, and we are 
prepared to adjust them to the most diffl'Ult cases. 
For advice call on or address 

E. T. ROBINSON, M. D., 

'Pdn?/ret, Con??, 



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